Hair treatment applicator



Feb. 25, 1969 J. D. UNDERWOOD 3,429,642

HAIR TREATMENT APPLI CATOR Filed sept. s, 19e? impur-:

C57 wfg/W United States Patent O 3,429,642 HAIR TREATMENT APPLICATOR James David Underwood, 1714 Grant Ave., Redondo Beach, Calif. 90278 Filed Sept. 5, 1967, Ser. No. 665,345 U.S. Cl. 401-16 4 Int. Cl. A46b 11/02, 11/06; A45d 24/22 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to hair treatment applicators for use by professional beauticians, and more particularly to such an applicator in which the treatment liquid can be precisely controlled by supplying the liquid under a uniform and adjustable pressure from a stationary supply reservoir to the internal reservoir of a hand-held applicator, from which the ilow of treatment liquid is further controlled by valves and a choice of nozzles.

Most of the important hair treatment liquids used by professional beauticians are subject to rapid chemical deterioration. It is desirable that they be so, since this chemical deterioration provides a limiting control on their chemical effects on the hair and scalp. For example, many bleaches and tinting mixtures used on hair by professional beauticians must be prepared in a special batch for the treatment of each client, so as to provide fresh treatment liquid designed to meet the particular requirements of that clients hair.

Another important characteristic of hair treatment liquids used by professional beauticians is that they act rapidly on the hair, but more rapidly immediately after preparation than later, and often without immediately revealing some lack of uniformity in a degree to which each hair area has been affected.

Heretofore, great skill and care has been demanded of the professional beautician, and even then, it has often happened that spots of overbleaching or overtinting, or underbleaching or undertinting have been discovered in spots a few minutes or more after the beautician had completed a perfect job of hair treatment.

Various applicators for applying hair treatment liquids have been proposed, but none have provided sucient precision in flow of hair treatment liquid to enable the beautician to treat the entire head of hair in a minimum amount of time, but with assured conidence that treatment liquid would flow with reliable uniformity from the applicator. For example, squeeze bottle applicators are notoriously variable in lthe rate at which liquid is discharged by hand-squeezing pressure. Pressurized applicators have been proposed for the application of chemically stable liquids but have not been successful with hair treatment liquids of great chemical instability, which liquids are the most important ones in hair treatment.

-lt is the primary object of the present invention to provide a hair treatment applicator especially suited for use by professional beauticians and providing the precise control required for dealing with the rapid acting but chemically unstable bleach liquids, or tint liquids, which are the most important treatment liquids in the salons of beauticians and cosmetologists.

FPice The invention makes use of an applicator system in which a hatch of treatment liquid may be freshly prepared in a stationary reservoir, and then fed by controlled pressure means through a flexible hose to a hand-held applicator, which is provided with a small secondary reserlvoir, and manually controlled valve and nozzle means.

An important advantage of the applicator system of the invention is that it can be inexpensively constructed of molded plastics. Associated with this advantage in economy, is the advantage in quality that the corrosive hair treatment liquids are in contact only with plastic and rubber materials upon which they do not have any adverse effect.

The many advantages in construction, efficiency in preparation for use, and precision in application of the invention will best be understood from the following description of one preferred specific embodiment, which description should be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a peripheral perspective representation of the entire applicator system of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view, much enlarged in comparison with FIGURE l, of the hand-held applicator, the section being taken at a vertical plane through the longitudinal axis of the applicator;

FIGURE 2a is a perspective detail view of the internal components of one of the valves in the applicator of FIGURE 2;

FIGUR-E 2b is a sectional view taken at the transverse vertical plane indicated in FIGURE` 2 by numerals 2b; and

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view through the stationary reservoir of the applicator system, taken at a vertical plane through the vertical axis of the reservoir as indicated in FIGURE 1 by the numerals 3.

In FIGURE 1 the arrow 10 is used to designate the applicator system as a whole, which system is seen to be comprised of three separable units connected to each other by a pair of flexible hoses. A tank of inert gas (such as nitrogen) is indicated by the numeral 11. The stationary reservoir is indicated by the numeral 12, and the applicator itself by the numeral 13.

Gas from tank 11 is used solely for applying a controlled pressure in stationary reservoir 12, and plays no chemical role in the hair treatment process. The operator can precisely control the pressure applied to the hair treatment liquid in stationary reservoir 12 by observing a pressure gage 14 and manipulating a discharge valve 15, both of which are mounted on the upper end of tank 11. The gas under pressure passes through gas supply hose 16 to produce a controlled ow of hair treatment liquid from stationary reservoir 12 to applicator 13 through treatment liquid hose 17, as will be described in detail hereinafter.

The detailed construction of applicator v13 may be explained in connection with FIGURES l, 2 and 2b. The middle part of the applicator 13 is a tubular handle 20, which may be conveniently molded from plastic with ingergrooves 21 on one side, so that the handle 20 can be accommodated within the hand of the beautician, and rmly held by his llingers.

Extending from each end of handle 20, and, preferably, on approximately the same longitudinal axis, are two differently shaped applicator nozzles 22 and 23. Applicator nozzle 22 is a comb nozzle provided with a large number of small lateral orifices 24 and 25.

Nozzle 23 is a straight nozzle tapering almost to a point and provided with a single orice 26 at its extreme end.

As may be best seen in the longitudinal sectional view of FIGURE 2, treatment liquid under pressure from the stationary reservoir 12 passes through the hose 17 and enters a handle reservoir 30, inside of the tubular handle 21, through a laterally projecting tube 31, which serves as a connection means for hose 17.

Discharge of treatment liquid from handle reservoir 30 through either nozzle 22 or 23 is selectively controlled by the operator as he positions handle in his hand with his thumb over either valve button 32 or 33, respectively.

The rate at which treatment liquid is discharged from the nozzle selected will be determined lirst by the pressure adjustment of pressure tank valve 15, and secondly by the degree to which either valve 32 or 33 is opened. In most cases, the operator will prefer to open valve 32 or 33 all the Way, and control flow primarily by the period of time he opens the valve, and the pressure adjustment at pressure tank valve 15.

Valves 32 and 33 are identical in construction, and a description of valve 32 in connection with FIGURES 2 and 2a will suice for both. Valve 32 is seen to be of the plunger type, with a valve piston 34 reciprocable in a cylindrical cavity 35, on an axis along the axis of reservoir 30.

The piston 34 is urged resiliently upward by a helical spring 36, which is preferably made of stainless steel, bronze or other material resistant to corrosion. A retainer ring 37 is cemented into the upper opening of cylindrical cavity 35, and meets with shoulders 37a and 37b in the cavity walls and piston end respectively. The valve pushbutton 39 projects from the retainer ring 37.

It will be noted that the spring 36 is protected to a very substantial degree from any contact with treatment liquid, and is firmly held in place, since the upper end of spring 36 is received into the interior cavity 40 enclosed by a depending lower skirt 41 on piston 34.

A transverse valve passage 42, preferably coaxial with reservoir 30, is provided to permit the passage of treatment liquid from reservoir through passage 42 into a longitudinal nozzle passage or conduit 22a. The interior Walls of nozzle 23 design a similar but smaller nozzle conduit 23a.

A sealing O-ring 50 is seated in an external annular recess 51 in the walls of piston 34, at a location below retaining ring 37 but above passage 42. The ring 50 makes close sealing contact with the adjacent wall surfaces of the cylindrical cavity 35.

The stationary reservoir 12 may be described in detail in connection with FIGURES l and 3. A convenient construction for the reservoir 12, which makes for complete use of treatment liquids, and easy cleaning, employs, as illustrated, a vertical cylinder reservoir 60 supported in a base stand. Access to the interior of cylinder 60 may be had by removing a top cover 62, which, as seen in FIGURE 3, is readily received on the upper end of cylinder 60, and is provided with a gas sealing gasket as indicated at 63.

As revealed in the cross-sectional view of FIGURE 3, and by dashed outline in FIGURE 1, a piston 64 is vertically reciprocable in the interior of cylinder 60. The underside of cover 62 is connected to the upper face of piston 64 by a connection cord 65 between connection points 66 and 67 respectively. Thus, cover 62 can be unthreaded from cylinder 60 and withdrawn, simultaneously removing piston 64 from cylinder 60, and permitting the cylinder to be cleaned and then used as a mixing chamber for a new batch of hair teratment chemicals.

A preferred construction for the piston 64 is as illustrated in FIGURE 3. For the upper part of its length, piston 64 is cylindrical, and provided with a pair of sealing rings 71 and 72, received in annular recesses in the outer cylindrical surface of piston 64; but the lower end of piston 64 is shaped with a convex spherical wall 73 which closely mates with and seats upon the concave spherical outer wall 74 of the interior of cylinder 60.

At the lowest point of spherical bottom 74 a central and preferably vertical discharge tube 75 is provided and the upstream end of treatment liquid hose 17 is seen connected thereto.

The inner pressure gas from gas tank 11 is admitted to the upper part of cylinder 60 through a tubular gas inlet 76, projecting laterally just below cover 62 as illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 3.

A preferred construction for the principal components of both stationary reservoir 12 and applicator 13 is by plastic moldings and assembly thereof. Thus, the applicator 13 may be molded in two halves which may then be cemented together at a plane transverse through their longitudinal axis indicated in FIGURE 2 by the line 80. The parts of valve 32 and 33, other than the spring 36 may be plastic molded, and assembled into the valve cylinder cavities 35, as shown in FIGURE 2, and then retained in place by cementing into position the retainer rings 37. The stationary reservoir 60 and the cover 62 may be plastic moldings. A good construction for reservoir 60 is illustrated by the cross-sectional view of FIGURE 3, showing relatively thick upper walls (the region of most pressure), and somewhat thinner walls in the lower part of cylinder 60, which enclose the treatment liquid cavity.

It will be noted that cylinder 60 is easily removable from hose 17 and support 61 for rinsing between batches.

The utility of the applicator of the invention is not restricted to any particular treatment liquids. Also, its novelty does not relate in any way to the composition of any particular treatment liquid. It is contemplated that the applicator may be employed for the precise application of any of the many hair treat-ment bleaches, tints, dyes, oils, or other hair treatment liquids or liquid suspensions presently known to the hair dressers art, or hereafter introduced into that art. By way of example, but not by way of limitation, the applicator is extremely useful for the application of bleaches which must be freshly mixed in reservoir 60 just prior to use. Some such bleaches have chemical reactions which generate by-products, sometimes gaseous by-products, which produce a slightly foamy liquid. Precise control over such foamy and compressible liquid-gas mixtures has been practically impossible with applicators heretofore known, but in the applicator of.

the invention, precise adjustments may be made with dial 15 and valves 32 and 33 to achieve uniform and fast distribution by means of comb nozzle 22, which may then be followed by touch-up application of very small quantities through the nozzle 23.

It is believed that the -many advantages of the applicator, and the many alternative -rnethods of operation with dilferent liquids, will be quickly comprehended by those skilled in the art of hair treating, and further discussion of such operation at this point is not deemed necessary.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent that it is capable of Variation and modication from the particular form selected for illustration, so that its scope should be limited only bv the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. A hair treatment applicator which includes:

a tubular handle sized for accommodation within the hand of an operator, said handle including an elongated internal reservoir chamber and a supply hose connection means communicating with said handle reservoir;

a pair of dispenser nozzles, one extending from each end of said handle in longitudinal alignment therewith, each of said nozzles including internal walls defining a conduit for receiving liquid from one end of said handle reservoir, and each of .said nozzles having at least one applicator orilice;

a pair of piston valves in said handle, one at each end of said handle reservoir, for controlling the flow of liquid from said handle reservoir to one of said dispenser nozzles, each of said piston valves including a valve piston slidably received in a cylindrical cavity having an axis at right angles to the longitudinal disposition of said handle and nozzles, each of said valves including a resilient spring means urging said piston to a valve closure position, and including a pushbutton control extending from said piston to the exterior of said handle for finger-tip control of said valve;

a stationary reservoir, large relative to said handle rescrvoir, for hair treatment liquids, said stationary reservoir including an elongated cylindrical container, a piston reciprocable in said container, said piston dividing said container into an actuating gas chamber on an upstream side of said piston, and a treatmentliquid chamber on a downstream side of said piston;

a source of compressed gas communicating with said actuating gas chamber for applying controllable pressure to the upstream side of said piston; and a treatment-liquid supply hose between the downstream end of said treatment-liquid chamber and said handle reservoir.

2. A hair treatment applicator as described in claim 1 in which one of said dispensing nozzles has at its outer end a single restricted orifice in alignment with said handle, and the other of said dispenser nozzles is in the form of a comb having an internal conduit system comprised of one longit-udinal main supply conduit and lateral branch conduits to distribute treatment liquid from oriiices distributed along the teeth of said comb.

3. A hair treatment applicator as described in claim 1 in which the piston, in each of said piston Valves, is provided with a transverse passage to permit the iiow of liquid from said handle reservoir into one of said dispenser conduits when said piston is manually depressed to overcome said resilient spring means, and said resilient spring means is a metallic helical spring enclosed within said valve cylinder and shielded from said treatment liquid by means of a cylindrical skirt downwardly depending from said piston and enclosing one end of said spring.

4. A hair treatment applicator as described in claim 1 in which said stationary reservoir is a substantially vertical cylinder with a central bottom discharge opening for connection to said supply hose, and the bottom of said stationary reservoir is internally concave, symmetrical about the vertical axis of said reservoir, and the downstream wall of said piston therein is convex in shape to meet with said concave reservoir bottom; and the upper end of said reservoir is covered by a removable cover for providing access to the interior of said reservoir.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,139,353 5/1915 Ellis 401-188 1,919,887 7/1933 Gleeson 401-180 2,116,864 5/1938 Fehrenbach 401-28 2,678,557 5/1954 Black 401-5 2,897,826 8/1959 Di Vito 401-28 FOREIGN PATENTS 62,203 3/ 1940 Norway.

LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 

